August 2005
It seems you cna get some pretty low mileage examples of these nice LOOKING cars for a pretty good price (5-6k). What's the story? Are they a nightmare to run - I've heard a few rumors about reliablitity and build quality on Alfa's generally. Should I avoid these? Can anyone suggest an alternative??
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Sorry if we've been down this route before. Getting forgetful these days. (I used to have a memory like a..oh, what's it called...)
I was thinking about spending £39 on a Maplin moving digital display, where you can put in a preprogrammed message and it scrolls across. The idea would be to put it in the back window and have messages (there can be up to 26 apparently) like "please back off" or "sorry", etc. The text is 35mm high, so readable from a sensible distance.
Never mind the issue about how you would actually trigger the thing safely whilst driving - ingenuity will get over that one. My thought is - would anybody have a view as to legality of using such a device in a moving car?
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For "Sorry" or "Thanks" then yes it's a nice idea.
For anything negative like "Please back off" or "Please use inside lane" however, i fear there'd be the occasional inconsiderate driver who would just make it a good deal worse for you, and wouldn't appreciate your 'better driving tip'.
The solution to this would be to always wear a high-vis jacket whilst driving. My dad used to have to wear a high-vis jacket all day whilst driving his mondeo doing motorway maintenance stuff, and always said people in front of him in the fast lane invariably got out of his way and slowed down ASAP as they thought he was uncover traffic police!
Head gasket failed this weekend, limped car 20 miles to a Peugeot dealership. (This is only my diagnosis. Symptoms: 50% loss of power, rough burbling engine sound, autodiagnostics light came on, flashed then stayed on)
Any guesses on how many hours labour this will be, I?m guessing the gasket itself will cost tuppence?
Being a V6, will the failure be in just one bank of cylinders and if so am I looking at an easier fix or a more complicated fix?
Is this a traumatic failure for an angine or a run of the mill thing?
Many thanks
Dave Read more
I'm glad it's all sorted then Dave. It did sound like something minor.
At £19/hr i would definately get the belt done over there - that is probably a £400+ job here.
Enjoy that V6!
Hi there
I have a 1998 Mitsubishi Galant V6-24 Auto. I recently had new brake disks and pads on all wheels (don't know if this is related or not) but since then it seems to have developed a sort-of clonk or rattle when going over small bumps at lowish speeds.
The problem seems to occur on tiny bumps (like running over a catseye or a small rut or pothole) when doing urban speeds - 30mph or thereabouts. At higher speeds and on bigger bumps it doesn't seem to be a problem - the suspension does its job with no fuss.
The noise seems to come from the front and it sounds pretty fundamental - ie it's something rattling in amongst the suspension or against the chassis or something, rather than a mudflap jiggling or something. It sounds like something is very loose but travels a very short distance, and it sounds like metal against metal. I thought it came from the near-side and my dad thought the same, but it seems to happen regardless of which front wheel hits a bump.
I've had the near-side front wheel off and nothing behind there seems to be loose except the disk itself, which I gather is tightened by the wheel itself being put in place. Just thought I'd throw the question to the knowledgable folks here before I take it to a garage to be told "it's just this nut needs tightening" or "your car's a write off".
Thanks in advance... Read more
Thanks for the help... I'll go and sign up.
My other half's sister is coming back to the UK after a year long trip round the world and needs a new car on a very tight budget (don't know how tight, but can't imagine it'll be more than £3k). Main thing is that it's safe, as she has just found out she's pregnant. It also needs to be reasonably economical (diesel or petrol is fine) and cheap to run.
Just looking at a couple of second hand car supermarkets, it looks like you can pick up and old astra/vectra/focus/mondeo for somewhere near £3k, but all have mileage around the 80k+ mark and most are about 5 years old. I'm hesitant to advise on something like this as I have no experience of high mileage older cars (I like to change mine around the 40k mark!).
Can anyone advise a suitable option - and smaller cars like the Polo, Fiesta etc are just too small to be included. Ta. Read more
For safety ratings of older cars, you could look at the Folksam data, obtained from analysis of real accidents:
www.folksam.se/engelsk/index.htm
(Download folder has at a glance list). You can see how the size of a car affects the safety.
Also look at the sites in HJ's Useful Websites (Find on page: Crash)
The following post recently appeared on another site:
“Tom Tom Go….Stolen
Hi. I was stupid enough to leave my ttg cradle on the windscreen and the ttg in the glove box overnight in my car which was parked off-road outside my house in a very quiet village. It got nicked. The household ins wouldn’t pay out and neither would the car ins. Please take note and take them in the house with you and don’t even leave the cradle on display as they forced the door on the car, and then broke open the glove box even though they had only seen the cradle.”
This does not come as a surprise. Demand for stolen car radios must surely be very low these days but the advent of Sat-Nav must present a profitable new opportunity for the ‘low-life’!
So, if your Sat-Nav is one of the after-market variety…..you have been warned!
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There seems to be a trend towards having a bright blue flashing light on the earpiece of Bluetooth headsets,a good advert to muggers that you have devices about your person.
I,ve just overhauled the engine,well,put a new conrod in to be exact,and cannot get the thing to start.
I'm sure the timing is all lined up correctly but i am getting no fuel coming from the fuel pump,after i crank it i can hear a kind of buzz but no sign of fuel,i have cracked the injector pipes to check but nothing comes out,my problem i feel may be summat to do with the immobiliser does anyone out there have any ideas?? i've tried to reset the immobiliser and electrics but have had no luck--any help much appreciated. Read more
It ok now--dragged fuel up using an airbed inflater/deflater running well --- fingers crossed eh???
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*shrug* then don't buy one.